1. Pierre Giffard served as the editor of Le Petit Journal and then the sports daily Le Velo, where his passionate support for Alfred Dreyfus and thus his opposition to the car-maker Comte Jules-Albert de Dion over the whole Dreyfus affair led de Dion to create a rival daily, L'Auto, which in turn created the Tour de France cycle race.
Pierre Giffard was taught from the age of six by Father Biville at Saint-Laurent-en-Caux and from eight at the Lycee Pierre Giffard Corneille in Rouen.
Pierre Giffard completed his schooling in Paris, at the Lycee Charlemagne in the Marais district.
The Franco-Prussian War started in 1870 and Pierre Giffard enrolled in the army, with his parents' reluctant permission, at Fontaine-le-Dun in Normandy.
Pierre Giffard's father died on 1 August 1872, and Pierre Giffard moved to Paris to work as a journalist.
Pierre Giffard then assumed editorship of Le Petit Journal in 1887 and of the sports daily Le Velo in 1896.
Pierre Giffard then joined Matin, which sent him to the Far East to cover the Russia-Japan war.
Pierre Giffard returned to Paris in July 1904, weakened by illness, and proceeded to work for several papers, including Depeche Coloniale and Petit Marseillais.
In 1910 Pierre Giffard was employed by his arch-rival Henri Desgrange writing for L'Auto until retirement.
Pierre Giffard joined Le Figaro on the strength of his reports of the World Exhibition in Paris and of conferences he organised there concerning the invention of the telephone and telegraph.
Pierre Giffard reported from Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Greece, Austria, Scotland, Algeria, Tunisia, Malta, Cyprus, Spain, the Netherlands and Denmark.
Pierre Giffard reported on the attack by French troops on Cheikh Bouamama fr:Cheikh Bouamama in Algeria and the taking of Sfax in Tunisia, and the arrival of the British fleet at Alexandria and the departure of the French navy.
Le Velo disappeared in 1904 and Pierre Giffard eventually joined Desgrange's staff at L'Auto.
On 5 June 1892, Pierre Giffard organised a foot-race from Paris to Belfort, a course of over 380 kilometers, the first large scale long-distance running race on record.
In Le Petit Journal on 18 June 1892, Pierre Giffard praised the event as a model for the physical training of a nation faced by hostile neighbours.
In 1894, when Pierre Giffard was editor in chief of newspaper Le Petit Journal, he organised what is considered to be the world's first car race from Paris to Rouen, sporting events were a tried and tested form of publicity stunt and circulation booster.
On 18 July 1896 Pierre Giffard organised the inaugural Paris Marathon on behalf of Le Petit Journal, although he was editor of Le Velo, suggesting a cooperative commercial relationship.
Pierre Giffard organised the first foot-race from Bordeaux to Paris in 1903, which was won by Francois Peguet in 114 hours 22 minutes 20 seconds with Emil Anthoine in second place.
The origins are in 1891, when Pierre Giffard wrote a history of bicycle development, La Reine Bicyclette.
Pierre Giffard stood in the national election of March 1900, a candidate in the 2nd constituency of Seine-Inferieure.
In 1892, Pierre Giffard was appointed 'Chevalier' of the Legion d'Honneur and in September 1900, at the Paris Exposition, he was appointed an 'Officier' of the Legion d'Honneur.
Pierre Giffard died on 21 January 1922 at his home in Maisons-Laffitte where he had lived since 1883.